Betrayal
by RedRogue
Summary: [Caution: SPOILERS] Will's thoughts on that fateful sight in Pirates 2, between Jack and Elizabeth before they abandoned the Black Pearl. ONE SHOT.


_**BE YE WARNED--**_

**_Story is set after Pirates 2: DMC, and does indeed contain spoilers. Written as Will's point of view. Savvy?_**

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**"Betrayal"**

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William Turner had suffered through much in his lifetime; that was certain. Through the abandonment of his father, through the torments of the blacksmith's trade, and through the ever longing for she that was Elizabeth Swann.

From the day he awoke from fire and drowning to stare into her wide brown eyes, Elizabeth never left his thoughts. Upon awakening into her gentle care, he had clawed desperately for every shred of good manners his mother had taught him to try and make it into her good sights.

"I'm watching over you, Will," she had said. Will was twelve years old and when he looked at her pixie face he lost something to her forever. Like Davey Jones, his heart had been tucked away with only her to keep the key.

There was a brief, wonderful memory of a season when she and he were friends. When they were quite young, Elizabeth would whisk him off to some childish adventure in the garden. She was like no other girl he had ever met, bold yet proper, clever yet maidenly and she seemed to fear absolutely nothing at all. He wanted, much to his own confusion, to ensure that nothing bad ever, ever happened to her.

Though, often he would dream of saving her from peril and rescuing her from danger, of battling villains and fending off pirates, just to prove himself worthy in her eyes, if no one else's.

Yet there would, of course, be no deeds of daring-do, not for a blacksmith's apprentice and certainly not for a governor's daughter. Thus Will's sword-smithing turned to practice and practice turned to stifled fury, only appearing in the shop went he crafted the metals, each smash of his hammer slammed down on the hot steel a strike against cruel fate. What he most dreamed of was forever beyond his reach, thus if he could only be a blacksmith, he, by heaven, would be the very best blacksmith he could.

It was not until he saw her screaming his name as she was being swept away by the chaotic pirates that had run ashore on Port Royal that fateful night, that he realized that his purpose was clear. She was his only reason for living, thus it seemed only fitting that he would risk his life, and come critically close to dying many times, to save her. He would've died having only one regret: that he had never revealed his heart to her.

But the day came when he had stood between Jack and Norrington, and she had bravely stepped beside him, love in her eyes and fire in her heart.

Then when their wedding plans had been interrupted, and Will had seen his betrothed put behind bars with death on her horizon, he set out to save her again.

He would venture to the far corners of the earth, almost become an afternoon meal to ravenous cannibals, dangle himself over a larger-than-life Kraken's very open jaws, and even sell his soul to a merciless squid-faced Davey Jones and his band of barnacle boys. And gladly.

In fact, he would do it again, if it meant it would spare his lady. It was remarkable how often the terms of 'madness' and 'brilliance' coincided, well, he now knew it was more common to coincide 'madness' with 'love'.

As his own father whipped Will's back until he dug out bone, Will repeated himself this. It was for his lady. She would be worth it in the end. This too would pass and very soon she would be back in his arms, her thin figure pressed again him, their lips locked as one.

They would soon be married, soon be able to finally settle down and live their lives as a happy pair. He would be able to live contented enough to stare at his hard-earned prize for the rest of his life, to bear children just as lovely as she, until his hair fell gray and his body fell decrepit. And he would only love her more with each passing day, as he had for all of his life on Port Royal.

He should have known it was just a dreamers dream. Such lives were not meant to be lived by pirate's sons. He should have known he would never deserve her, no matter how many times he tried to prove himself to her. He would never be worthy, in her eyes, or his own. He should have seen it coming.

For in all of his years of loving her he could only give her so much, could only be there for her as her heart's slave for the rest of her days. A lifetime of endless, however predictable devotion. He was no longer the unattainable in her eyes, he guessed.

And Jack was.

Jack was now the forbidden, the exciting, the handsome, the clever, the charming. He never lived the same day twice. With him, every day was 'anything was possible day'. Something Will could never give. He was a life of routine, of stability, of security. Jack was the adventurer's life. A life never to be boring or conventional.

Will would have never understood this, had never expected it, had it not been shoved before his eyes. For on the day the Kraken would swallow the Pearl, the day Will could finally escape with his lady and to the life he always wanted, would be the day he saw those lovely lips pressed onto someone else's. Onto a scummy pirate's. Onto Jack's.

It was the day Will would breathe his last.

His heart which he had given as Elizabeth's safekeeping was tossed carelessly aside, murdered with no second thought.

He did not object. He died in silence.

His driving force behind his entire life… it all vanished before that ghastly sight. It all meant nothing. It had been a dream inside the depth of his soul, he now realized, one too good to be true. Now he had finally awoken and seen the horrible nightmare that was reality.

Will vented with a practiced manner, with his father's knife stabbing into the wooden table harshly once more as a strike against cruel, cruel fate. There was nothing else to vent on. That horrid captain was a fallen victim to the Kraken now, probably inspired by Elizabeth's love and standing for a last act of nobility…

For the lady that now belonged to him.

And he dared not vent on her. It would only eat even more at his soul. If this was what it took for her to be happy, then Will had no right to protest, if he truly loved her as he believed. If only she knew what she had done. If only she could have pity. If only fate would, for the life he had suffered for this woman. Things he would do again in a heartbeat if it meant she might feel something for him again.

But it would make no difference. The deed was done, and it seemed the only thing fate was up to nowadays was making it rain on their wedding day. Perhaps it had been a sign. That didn't matter either. He wouldn't have listened, even if the sign had flashed lightning and screamed out his name.

No, he wouldn't have listened, because he was too blinded by 'love'.

Though inward he wished desperately that someday his future might look bright like that again, he knew that he would never get over this. Over her. The fantasy of how it could have been lingered and he knew it would never leave him. He had given her everything and all she had given him back…

Was betrayal.

**-**

I feel like William Turner must feel right now, after leaving the theatre after DMC today. I feel the Pirates franchise has betrayed us all with the cruel twist of plot that is Elizabeth falling for dear Captain Jack Sparrow. If he needed a love interest, they are perfectly capable of creating a new one for him, aren't they? Did they have to take Elizabeth away from our Mr. Turner, after all he has done—did it all mean nothing to her? Please tell me what you think.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue


End file.
